Need a holiday present? Texas agency sells maps

DIANE JENNINGS | The Dallas Morning News

Published 10:35 am, Thursday, December 5, 2013

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This 1849 map of Texas by Jacob De Cordova was provided by the Texas General Land Office. The Texas General Land Office has been selling replicas of antique maps since 2004, with proceeds helping to preserve some of its 35 million original documents. (AP Photo/Texas General Land Office) less

This 1849 map of Texas by Jacob De Cordova was provided by the Texas General Land Office. The Texas General Land Office has been selling replicas of antique maps since 2004, with proceeds helping to preserve ... more

Photo: HOPD

Need a holiday present? Texas agency sells maps

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DALLAS — Buy a map. Preserve a piece of Texas history.

It may not have the same catchy ring as "Don't Mess With Texas," but it speaks to Dallas lawyer Jeff Dunn, who has amassed a sizable collection of replica maps sold by the Texas General Land Office.

The Dallas Morning News (http://dallasne.ws/1cZyqY9 ) reports the little-known state agency has been selling replicas of antique maps since 2004, with proceeds helping to preserve some of its 35 million original documents.

Dunn, former president of the Texas Maps Society, shies away from revealing how many maps he's purchased for himself. "You'll think I'm crazy," he said.

But there are several reasons for acquiring them, he said.

"Many of my friends and colleagues are interested in art and history and geography," said Dunn. The maps "are a convergence of all three of those," he said.

The land office has sold more than 31,000 replicas, raising more than $650,000 for preservation, said James Harkins, director of public services for the land office's archives and records department.

He said those funds are badly needed because no taxpayer dollars are available for the preservation efforts. Original maps cost about $4,000 each to preserve.

The maps are popular with historians, genealogists, land surveyors, lawyers and oil and gas workers, Harkins said.

"People buy them for all different reasons," he said. "They're all good reasons to me."

Most of the replicas cost between $20 and $40.

Trevia Wooster Beverly, a Houston genealogist, owns about three dozen.

"It shows Texas as part of Florida, as part of the French claim to the New World," Harkins said. "I don't think the word 'Texas' is mentioned."

A perennial best-seller is an 1849 map of Texas done by Jacob De Cordova, the first map the land office preserved, Harkins said.

"It's probably one of the most beautiful maps of Texas that there is," he said.

One of the reasons for its popularity, Harkins said, is that it shows Texas at its farthest boundary, going up to what is now New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming.

The replica maps are available at every level — city, county and state. Another popular seller is "bird's-eye view" maps, which show cities in a particular year.

Those maps were usually were commissioned in the late 1800s by various chambers of commerce, Harkins said.

"Whenever they wanted to present their city in favorable light, they would invite the mapmaker Augustus Koch to come in and he would make the map," Harkins said

Many of the land office's original documents are badly in need of preservation. The process can include de-acidifying the ink, removing dirt, stitching torn pieces together and treating the map on special paper.